1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally involves the hand-knitting of fabrics. More specifically, the invention relates to an improved method of securing, feeding and knitting plural sources of yarn to produce a patterned fabric.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The hand-knitting of fabric having a variegated pattern, such as an argyle or plaid pattern, requires plural sources of different colored or shaded yarns which must be available for continual use as each yarn strand is sequentially incorporated into the fabric during knitting. The knitter must introduce each strand of yarn from its source as each new color is incorporated into the fabric, with this being accomplished in such a manner so as to form no gaps between the colors.
The actual procedure of hand-knitting a patterned fabric requires that the knitter first proceed across a knit row, adding each new color from an appropriate yarn source and with each new yarn strand being brought up from underneath and then passed over the previously used yarn strand as the stitch is made. This latter procedure of "twisting" the yarn provides a firm transition from one color to another. When the knit row is completed and the respective colored yarn strands have been incorporated into the fabric, the knitter must then rotate the knitting needles clockwise so that a purl row can be started working from right to left. Working the purl row, the knitter again brings the new yarn strand up and over the previously worked strand, thereby again completing a twist.
Because of the plurality of yarn sources required in this form of knitting a patterned fabric, the prior art has proposed various devices and accessories to facilitate the manipulation of the yarns so that there will be less tangling than occurs when the sources are left to dangle on bobbins. Some devices require that the individual yarn sources be supported on spools, but this arrangement requires manual unwinding, exposing the yarn sources to soiling, and does nothing to reduce actual tangling of the yarn strands. Another prior art approach involves the disposition of plural yarn balls together in a common, partitioned container, an arrangement which maintains the yarn sources in a clean condition, but nevertheless requires the manipulation of the yarn sources themselves when twists are made during the knitting process. Still another type of known device separates the yarn strands through a comb-like device, but still maintains the yarn sources supported on bobbins disposed below the "comb".
None of the heretofore known prior art devices teach the combination of storing individual yarn sources in separate discrete containers having individual tightly fitting lids, disposing the containers and yarn sources in a linear array in the exact sequence in which they will appear in the knitted fabric, supporting the containers on a common base, and permitting the knitting of a patterned fabric wherein the knitter is not required to handle or manipulate the individual yarn sources during the knitting process. This highly desirable combination of factors serves to render possible the knitting of a patterned fabric in which yarn strands that are twisted on a knit row shall be untwisted on a purl row.
Some examples of the aforedescribed prior art devices for facilitating the hand-knitting of patterned fabrics from plural yarn sources are disclosed by the Geisman U.S. Pat. No. 2,264,664, Sedgewick U.S. Pat. No. 2,493,208, Fitts et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,628,042, Broschard U.S. Pat. No. 3,054,277 and DePaez et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,806.